Hiranyakashipu 2

A is A
2001-11-26 00:36:35 (UTC)

The Story of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu

I would like to begin this journal by relaying the story of
the Hindu demon brothers Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu, as
I feel it is a metaphor for atheism and the desire for the
mind's survival from the hands of such concepts as gods, or
other such absurdities:

According to Hindu myth, the celestial world was once
guarded by two gatekeepers. These gatekeepers were
approached one day by two gentlemen wearing rags. The
gentlemen demanded entrance to the celestial world. The
gatekeepers denied them their request, due to the way in
which they had presented themselves. These "gentlemen" were
actually the sons of Brahma, the Creator, and angered at
the gatekeepers' refusal to accept them, they cursed the
gatekeepers to fall to earth and be born again as demons
amongst the mortals.

The gatekeepers were born on earth as the brothers
Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. On the day of their birth,
the earth trembled with fear and a bright comet appeared on
the horizon. The brothers immediately began to travel,
destroying the faith and terrorizing the mortals. The gods,
displeased, slew Hiranyaksha by redirecting a flood which
he himself had created, and succeeded in saving the world
from his evil.

Hiranyakashipu was angered by the murder of his brother,
and swore to avenge him. He spent eons gathering the
strength and knowledge necessary for a battle with the
gods. Finally, when the time was right, Hiranyakashipu
approached Brahma, demanding a boon of him. Hiranyakashipu
asked for the following boon: "That I not meet my death at
the hands of gods or created beings, and not by weapons of
any kind, and not on earth or in the air, and not at day or
at night or inside or outside of my house!" Brahma agreed,
granting Hiranyakashipu his desired boon.

Thinking himself now invincible, Hiranyakashipu thrust
himself at the masses, terrorizing both common man and sage
alike. During the course of this destruction,
Hiranyakashipu found a wife to wed, who promptly delivered
a son for Hiranyakashipu. To Hiranyakashipu's disdain, and
despite all parental training and coaxing, the boy refused
to follow the dark footsteps of his father. Fearing his son
would grow up and begin to undo everything which he had
worked towards, Hiranyakashipu attempted to slay the child.




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